Just a little update from me... no scratch that, there's quite a lot of new content available on my blog this month.
There have been 19 new helmets added to the 2023 helmet pack from the Miami, Monaco and Spanish GPs. Sorry I have no individual previews right now, but I am slowly adding select helmets as the races pass by. But there are some fun helmets in there, from Botta's Pac-Man inspired Monaco helmet, Lando's beach ball, Albon's golf ball, KMag's artist rendition of Monaco, Leclerc's tribute to his father, The Mclaren triple crown tributes and many more. Which is your favourite?
I'm pleased to present to you a new 2011 mod for GP4.
At the beginning of the year, I began compiling a list of mods and trying to make it easy to download them again. I was also looking at some of my unfinished work, and saw some gaps that I could potentially fill. I had a base 2011 mod, I had a 2011 Ferrari that needed to be painted, and with various 2011 mods now unavailable, why not create one myself? How hard can it be, I thought? Most of the work is already done, right?
If you've played with my 1994 mod, you will know I don't do mods by halves. Whilst the 1994 mod has many complexities found in the 11th Team coding, this mod is bursting at its seams with content and choices. 2011 saw so much content released for GP4, for better or for worse, that I wanted to include as much of it as I can, but even I couldn't possibly include everything.
It's a great loss to the community since Kedy89 took his decision to remove his mods from the downloads section, and I can fully sympathise with his decision. However, I had an empty base mod that I created and released back in 2011, and I've decided to start filling it. Whilst there will inevitably be some crossover with Kedy89's work, I've tried my best to create my work from scratch or from other sources where possible.
I wanted to thank MailsonTeles, SergioNG and KerleyF1 for sharing their archives with me. I also had access to TomMK's Gp4 Central mod made for low resolution computers, littleone90's mod that wasn't released to the public which included mostly 2010 Codemaster cars updated by NickJW and Tiko.BigBrother, a long time moderator at Grandprixgames.org, also created an unreleased mod. SergioNG's Megapacks are a fantastic compilation, but only comes in Spanish and it is missing a list of authors, and can be obtained via GP4Forever. I believe mods existed by Josekast, leomp10 and brudu92, but looking at the contents, I don't believe I've missed anything. I wanted to thank NickJW and mclarenaustralia for their 2011 download lists that helped my find content I was missing. It's sad only one of those mods survived and is available on my downloads page, however I hope to honour their work in this mod by including some elements of their work in my own. I also wanted to thank F1Virtual, Josekast and Jcaranti for allowing me to include much of their varied content into this mod.
Tracks
The trackpack is integrated with the CSM side of the mod itself, with only empty TSM profiles in place for it to load.
One reason for doing it this way is to get the pitbox integration working properly. So whether you pick HRT or Virgin as your 11th Team, it should patch the pitboxes and muppets with the team of your choice. The limitation with this is that you have to load the CSM mod one track at a time, you can't load all the tracks in one.
Included are tracks from the guys at F1Virtual, Prblanco, Gildoorf, Schueyfan and others, who continue to create premium quality tracks.
KTC also created a number of new tracks around that time and Yeongam, New Delhi/Buddh, and Yas Marina are included in this pack.
Other great track creators drt01, Jcaranti, Josekast, Tumyeto, Tojepo, Plodekk and Neil Caine's work are also featured. Let's not forget some of the foundations laid by guys such as TTM, Ricardo Lampert, MarioB, Erwin_78, btone, Lo2k and Cleberpister. I've likely missed some guys out, but it can't be underestimated how much work goes on to create these tracks and updates, it requires a true collaborative effort and they have my utmost respect and admiration.
Cars
With the Codemasters series of F1 games beginning in 2010, it was the popular thing to take content from them and stick it into GP4. 2011 was filled with 2010 cars updated to 2011, until the 2011 game was released and then those cars were converted. In this mod you'll find Josekast's conversions with lots of track specific variations added with help from a few of his friends. These cars were the ones
You'll also find conversions from Jucksman. I offer these alternatives because, in his words 'all cars follow true-to-life dimensions, ride height, rake and wheel base. I tried to position the drivers body as realistically as possible'.
There are some alternative conversions done by the RSCT guys, Gezere, Excalibur, Isaint and others.
There are some conversions from the F1MG mod from rFactor, which offer a nice alternative.
There are scratch made cars, particularly many versions of the Ferrari, my own included. Mpad, Michael Sandae (Dutch_Can), The Dark Listener (Saloman) all have their cars included to varying degrees of accuracy.So in the CSM menu, there's a significant section given over to selecting which one you prefer, and you can swap and mix between the version your choice of car.
Because of the large number of carshapes and textures to include, I've not provided lods and I've not given the option of lower resolution textures. This is purely a space saving decision, so sorry low spec computer users - the GP4 Central mod available on my downloads page caters for you.
As you can imagine, this was a lot of work, whittling through what cars to include and which to exclude, finding what cars are still available from what is sadly lost, and each car needs individual GP4 Tweaker position files. Where possible, I've included readme files for the cars that I could find, but not all of them had them but I've tried to credit all the original authors.
Hopefully this mod will satisfy the purists who prefer scratch made content, whilst those who don't mind using items from the Codemasters game will receive the quality they bring.
Fongu's updates
Other than sourcing and compiling what already exists, there's new things that I've contributed to this mod too.
There's some track specific liveries for my Ferrari F150th Italia included exclusively with this mod.
Oggo allowed us the opportunity to mod GP4 in ways not possible back in 2011 and many of the changes below are as a result of Oggo's breakthroughs.
You'll find each team has individual 3D rim shapes. There's a large number of people who worked on the 2011 rims, but the rim shapes themselves I've taken them from Lee who released a 2010 pack of 3D rim shapes. I've amended it to fit it with 2011 textures and tyre shapes by Excalibur, Hega, Vesuvius and Soulbringer (I hope I caught all contributing authors). In truth, I think the tyres and rims are scaled a little too small, but it's too big a job to raise all the cars to cater for it.
You'll find each driver has their correct helmet shape, as they were originally designed. You'll find Daimon and MDBSnake's great helmet shapes paired with the correct driver in this mod. There's some stunning helmets in this collection made by DaiMOn, Grl48, Nick9320, pummba, Josekast, Jaunental and Kerleyf1.
There's a great set of in-cockpit visors made by Enrico Neidhardt (madleonix) who released them in the original GP4 format. I've converted these to GP4 Tweaker visors. I really like this set as it's not as intrusive as other versions, so you can see more of the cockpit and steering wheel.
I've made some changes to Josekast, Jcaranti, ramf1v and renault#1fan's cockpit taken from the Codemasters game. I've fixed the mirrors, rearranged some of the object names and I've created a Virgin cockpit texture. I've decided not to include cockpit shape and textures by Guillermo, nor the textures painted on KSor's cockpit, again this was mostly a space saving decision. Coupled with Jcaranti, Josekast and NickJW's steering wheels, I really like the in-cockpit view. For the generic steering wheel option, I've included Zifox's great HD generic wheel.
I've added a new collision file, meaning collisions with other cars are now more realistic and there should be less clipping when you touch other cars.
Big thanks to 32bobo32 who created new Marshalls and Event Director textures for this mod, they are truly excellent. This adds to Josekast's work on the pitcrews. I've decided against included new 3D pitprop items, due to team specific pitprop textures already created with the original 3d shapes. What I've done though is replace any low poly versions of the marshalls and pitcrews and replaced them with the standard versions.
Oggo's work on a CAP converter means much of what used to be in the Patch folder is now included in the Patch.ini file. In real terms it makes no difference, but it's a tidier solution. Included are Prblanco's code changes, such as no refuelling, cars starting with full fuel loads, monaco pit lane tweaks, and car weight patches.
Menu Videos & GPaedia
As these are large files in themselves, I've split my video backgrounds out from the main install as an optional update.
Download them and put them in ...2011 Fongu\Data\Menu folder and CSM will do the rest.
This link is also there if you right click on the mod in CSM.
If you're a fan of the in-game GPaedia, I've included ones by Jcaranti, Kedy89 and petrus created to bring it up to date with 2011.
Physics and Performances
Thanks to Gitanes for his track specific performance files and they are made for Cyberracer's physics files. I've included his notes, which can be accessed by right clicking on the CSM mod.
There were other people working on physics and performance files, TomMK and Phantaman in particular, however Phantaman's data is based off one race, and Tom's can be found in the GP4Central mod, so I've decided not to include them in this one.
GPXPatch
There's lots of fantastic graphics made to work with GPXPatch.
Part of the problem at the time was that many of these were made based on a 1024x768 resolution that doesn't stretch properly for larger wide screens commonly used today.
Josekast and The Dark Listener created a great base HUD, which many others have since worked on. 32bobo32 created his own fantastic versions too.
Included at b-tone and Ruboy's def panel, present in almost every mod, F1Virtual and mclarenaustralia graphics updates and additional information.
Young Driver Test
I've included a bonus little test variant. It's based around the Yas Marina Young Driver test. I've included the Williams pre-season, all blue, test livery on the 2010 car, and Ferrari's huge T-camera added to Jucksman's car. Some helmets have been taken from the GP2 mod, and I've added some very quick helmets for the missing drivers. They are just a place holder, I didn't have the time to give it the attention I usually do on my helmets. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this little alternative.
Installation notes
This is a stand alone mod, so you don't need any previous installations.
What first springs to mind when you think back to the 1995 season? (Shout out to the-Race's Bring Back V10's podcast)
Was it...
Schumacher's dominance
Hill crashes into Michael repeatedly
Coulthard throwing away his lead (spinning on formation lap & crashing on pit entry)
Mansell's final season
That hideous McLaren with its mid wing
That's not a Benetton, it's a Ligier... honest
Taki Inoue vs course car & ambulance
Hakkinen's horrible accident
Simtek goes bust (bye bye purple F1 cars)
"What is Deletraz doing?"
Forti arrives with a bright yellow F3000 car
Alesi's only win
The final V12, it's wonderful sound and that beautiful Ferrari
Red Bull enters F1 as a sponsor with Sauber, powered by a works Ford engine and fuel by Petronas
That classic Nurburgring race
It may not have been a classic season, but it was still a pretty eventful season with plenty to keep one's interest. It really marks the end of an era of the plucky amateurish F1 projects and all the glorious failure stories that come with it. It was also the final year where V8's ran against V10's and Ferrari's V12. But for all the allegations of cheating and controversy of the 1994 season, 1995 felt like a fitting season in the crowning of the legend of Michael Schumacher.
One of the very first mods in GP4 history was CTDP's mod released for both F1 Challenge and GP4, which you can still download and enjoy on my downloads page (the GP4 version obviously). A few years after this release, I had the idea and worked with btone to update these cars. I was just learning shaping at the time and the back of the grid cars were merely updated CTDP cars and mapped and painted by btone. Then others got involved, Loren making the McLaren, Nick Ovey on the Jordan, Ross Hunter on the Benetton and Ligier. Then I completed the set with an update of McKey's 1994 Footwork and a brand new Ferrari, Sauber and Williams. This was among the first proper CSM mods with an accompanying TSM track pack.
An interesting aside: I actually experimented with a damage model back then, where there were damaged parts hidden underneath the car. This was particularly the bargeboard and sidepod areas, as well the nose cone, where it was visibly damaged and scuffed, along with jagged edges. But it was flawed and was also too much work.
It's now 2023 and I present to you a little update patch to the 1995 Mod.
Firstly, don't expect too much from this update, it's not to the standards of my 1994 overhaul, consider it more as a stepping stone for potential further updates. However, this is more of an amalgamation of already released content added to the mod.
The recently released 3D Rims and Tyres by Oggo, Alesi_Fan & Turbo Lover have been correctly assigned to each team. Because of the differences in tyre positions on the rears, I have disabled the 2D rims option (for now).
The original mod did intend to have 3D Helmet shapes by Eugenio Faria, but only the Arai made it into the final mod. In fact the Bell, Arai, Shoei and Bieffe helmet shapes are all included in the 1996 mod. Like I say, this is a place holder, as the new shapes by Oggo and co will hopefully come soon.
I've included an amended collision file, thanks again to Oggo for making this mod possible. And there's some CSM updates and fixes by me to make it all work and to fix a few mistakes like the wheel positioning on the Jordan, Lamy's helmet not loading at one of the tracks and more.
Twenty nine years ago (plus a day), we lost two drivers at 1994 San Marino GP, Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger. I've written about this before (like here), and it was the time I started following F1. It was a horrific weekend, with bad crashes for Lamy and Lehto, Barrichello and also involved pit-lane injuries when Alboreto's tyre bounced down the busy area. Thankfully many lessons were learned, but when Ocon comes into a pitlane filled with photographers at the 2023 Azerbaijan GP, it's a reminder that motorsport remains dangerous.
Still we remember two drivers who loved the sport and dedicated themselves to it, and we can give thanks to the moments of joy they brought to many others. I read this weekend about the time in F3000 where Roland and Heinz-Harold Frentzen were friends. On a night out, they approached some ladies which irked some Japanese men upon which one of them pulled out a knife behind Heinz-Harold. Roland, realising what was going on, instantly wrestled the man to the ground, saving Frentzen from any bodily harm.
I've not written much about physical models of late, purely because the second hand market isn't what it was, and prices have escalated. I have however, completed my first Tamiya 1/20 kit of Jim Clark's Lotus 25 Climax. Perhaps one day I'll get around to taking some photos and writing an article about it. Encouraged by the results from that build, this weekend I bought my next project, the 1994 Williams FW16 Renault by Fujimi. It appears I have purchased the Pacific GP version with the extra wings, which I still own a 1/43 model scale version of. I hope to be able to do the memory of Ayrton some justice through this build.
Back to Esteban Ocon, he was the only driver to race with a new helmet design this weekend. It's his 2023 helmet design, but in a fluorescent red, that evokes memories of Michael Schumacher's Ferrari lid. Ocon has made no secret that the German was his hero, and it remains to be seen if this lid if a one off or whether he will continue with this helmet. Either way, I like it and you can download my version of it in the link below.
Site admin time, and I've done some work on the GP4 Tracks list. Initially, I had stuck to track packs, but there's only been one track pack for over a decade available. So I've put together a list of individual tracks and where to find them, as well as adding some ovals and tracks used by Indycars over the years. You can find them here: GP4 Track Downloads
I'm proud to announce this update to the 2023 helmet set.
I've made some updates to existing helmets now that there are more pictures and more angles for me to make my helmets more accurate. I've updated Ocon, Norris and Alonso's lids with minor tweaks and the rear of Hamilton's helmet has received more attention.
Russell is running a new standard blue helmet which is quite different from his pre-season helmet, so that's now included in this pack too.
2023 Russell's standard helmet by fongu
2023 Russell's preseason helmet by fongu
The Australian Grand Prix saw three new helmets, with Piastri sticking close to his normal design, but it contains lots of detail changes.
Piastri 2023 Australian GP helmet by fongu
Zhou and Bottas both ran striking new helmet designs, both of which I enjoyed recreating.
Zhou 2023 Australian GP helmet by fongu
Bottas actually had two helmets hand painted for him by Ricky Kildea in an aboriginal inspired design, with the race worn helmet auctioned off afterwards for charity. It's the race-worn design, the busier one, that I've recreated here.
Bottas 2023 Australian GP helmet by fongu
I hope you like them. You can preview all of my 2023 helmets here: 2023 Helmets by fongu, with renders by Nick9320 who has produced all the renders in this thread too. Thanks too goes to Jvinu for his helmet shapes and templates, and as always, they are compatible with ACSPRH v1.
Here it is, the complete 2023 helmet base set. Hülkenberg's helmet is now complete, along with changes to Ocon's, Norris', Hamilton's and Alonso's helmet.
I've also included Bahrain GP variations to Albon (more pink), Hamilton (rainbow flag), Stroll (chrome parts instead of white), Leclerc (dark red gradient and new logo), and of course Russell's bright green helmet.
As usual, thanks to Jvinu for the helmet templates and these are compatible with ACSPRH v1.
